Chapter Four

Kyle sat with Kenny's body on his lap for half-an-hour, nose pressed to his hair, attempting to memorize the scent as he attempted to will the boy back to life. Once the shock started to fade, he gently lifted the body off his lap, and looked around him before he left the area they had hid to call for an ambulance to take Kenny away. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and sighed when he saw that he had no reception. Great.

He crept back toward the hiding spot, wanting to reassure himself that his friend's body was still there where he'd left it. He didn't expect anything to happen, but this was South Park. Crazy shit happened all the time. He muttered to himself, "Once you know he's still there, you can go find a payphone and quit talking to yourself like you're a lunatic," stopping short when he found the spot.

Kenny's body was missing.

Kyle felt the panic begin to well up in his chest. He had been gone five minutes—at the most—and someone had stolen his friend's body out from under his nose. He dug his hands through his hair, gripping the curls tight and wondering who in their right mind would steal a body. He spotted their bags and picked them up, unwilling to let them leave his sight. He searched the area as best as he could, but it was like Kenny had vanished into thin air.

He walked home as fast as he could, sticking to well-lit areas, breathing a sigh of relief when he made it home unscathed. He hurried up to his room, not wiling to talk to anyone about what happened. He gathered up some clean clothes and ducked into the bathroom.

Turning the water on as hot as he could stand, he ducked under the spray and let the water neat down on him. He braced himself against the wall and wondered if there had been anything he could have done to stop it. He ran scenario after scenario through his head and was unable to come up with anything that didn't end up with on or both of them dying or ending up seriously wounded.

He turned the water off and stepped out, checking himself over for any injuries. He could see a bruise forming around his wrist from where Kenny grabbed him and pulled him out of the way of the bottle thrown at him. He didn't bruise that easily, but he had barely felt Kenny's grip at the time. He dried off and dressed before he crept back into his room, breathing a sigh of relief when he didn't come across someone.

Knowing if he came across anyone he would blurt out the awful truth, Kyle elected to climb into bed. He pulled the covers over his head as if that would help shut out the knowledge that a few hours ago, he watched a friend die in his arms. He lay there worrying about what he was going to tell the McCormicks, deciding that he needed to tell them first thing in the morning. After all, they should be the first people to know. Maybe after, he could convince Kevin to go with him to search for Kenny's body.

Glad to have the start of a plan forming, Kyle let himself drift to sleep.

The next day came too soon. After a restless night plagued by uneasy dreams, Kyle finally roused himself out of bed and dressed. He slipped downstairs to the kitchen and ate his breakfast, knowing his body was going to need the fuel. He cleaned up then left after grabbing his keys. He had been tempted to grab his ushanka, but the day had already started to warm, so he settled for wearing a baseball cap instead. He pulled the cap low to shade his face and began his walk to the McCormicks.

It didn't take that long since it was only about a block away, but every step was agony as he practiced in his head what he was going to say. He couldn't exactly blurt out what had happened; maybe he could just tell Karol and Stuart first. Kyle stopped in his tracks as he thought, 'Karen's going to be devastated.'

He took a deep breath to keep from completely panicking, taking a moment to chastise himself. 'They need to know. You can panic later when you're alone again.' He continued on, determined to get this over with. He strode up to the door and gave a few brisk knocks before stepping back to wait.

He held his breath as he waited, letting out in a large whoosh when the door opened and Kyle found himself staring at a familiar orange hoodie. At first, he could only see the sleeve and thought it was Karen opening the door. Then Kenny's face came into view and Kyle felt the tears spring to his eyes.

He blurted out, "You died in my arms!"

Kenny paled and his mouth opened in shock. He stood in silence as he watched Kyle stand before him, tears streaming down his face. He opened the door wider, stepping onto the stoop and shutting the door behind him, not wanting to wake up the rest of the house up. He pulled Kyle into a hug and let the other boy cry on his shoulder. His voice was full of awe as he said, "You remembered."

"I think it would be something that would be hard to forget," came Kyle's answer, muffled against Kenny's shoulder. He pulled away and framed Kenny's face in his hands, searching the other boy's face for something that would convince him this wasn't a dream.

Kenny sighed and brought his hands up to pull Kyle's away and create space between them. He frowned and said, "It wouldn't be the first time you forgot." He grabbed Kyle's wrist and started to lead both of them to a quiet spot in his backyard.

Kyle winced as pain shot up his arm as Kenny grabbed him around the bruise from last night. Keeping his voice low, he said, "What are you talking about? I've never seen you die before."

Kenny flashed him a look of annoyance, but silent until they were as far from the house as possible and still be on McCormick land. Once they arrived where Kenny knew they wouldn't be interrupted, he started talking. "I'm pretty sure we were in preschool the first time you saw me die. Third and fourth grade were pretty bad." He noticed he still had a hold of Kyle's wrist and dropped it so he could pace. He continued talking, his voice growing in intensity as he continued. "When you went through all that bullshit with your kidneys, I would've been the perfect candidate! After all, Cartman still has my fucking eyes! And another thing! Remember when Cartman corrupted Cthulhu? None of you fuckers believed me when I told you I couldn't die. I fucking shot myself in the head. Twice!"

Kyle watched as Kenny continued to pace and blow off steam, describing every time Kyle had watched him die. His eyes never left Kenny as the blond tugged at his hair in frustration, causing it to stick out like Tweek's. When Kenny paused to take a breath, Kyle said, "I'm sorry you've been so alone in this."

Kenny whipped around and locked gazes with Kyle's, his blue eyes slightly tinged with madness. "I wasn't alone. Fucking Cartman always knew. There were times the fat bastard wouldn't shut up about it." His face crumpled as a wave of sadness overcame him. "I only ever wanted someone to share this burden with, but the cost is too fucking high…"

Kyle caught Kenny in a hug and held him tight as the other boy cried for all the times he couldn't, causing Kyle to cry along with him. They clung to each other like two lost souls who had finally seen the light. He couldn't make out the words Kenny murmured into his hair, but he was fine with that. When he felt Kenny calm down, he pulled away, keeping a grip on Kenny's shoulders. "You've been carrying so much for so long, dude. I'm surprised you haven't snapped before now." He sat down on a patch of grass and pulled Kenny down with him. "I guess this is why your mom's diagnosis was so devastating."

"Part of it." Embarrassed by his outburst, Kenny kept his face away from Kyle. "I was also worried I caused it."

Confused, Kyle asked, "How could you have caused it? It's not the trade off for being immortal is it?"

Kenny shook his head. "If it had been, I would've told Cthulhu to take his deal and shove it." He let his head fall back as he studied the clouds to keep from looking at Kyle. "I guess I should start at the beginning."

A half-smile formed on Kyle's face. "That would be nice, but only if you really want to tell me."

Kenny looked at Kyle and smiled. "It'd be nice for someone to know the whole story. I'm about to tell you shit even Cartman doesn't know." He looked back toward his house as he started his story.

"It was a dark and stormy night when two redneck alcoholics decided to go to a cult meeting for the free beer. They stayed long enough to participate in a ritual that attempted to summon the Dark One. Instead of summoning him, they caused the woman to become pregnant with his agent."

Kenny's tone became darker as he continued. "The woman should've realized something was wrong when she tried to abort the fetus and it didn't take. But she decided it was God's will and didn't question it. After the baby was born, everything seemed fine until a few weeks after birth he died from SIDS. Not sure what to tell her husband, she buried the baby in the back yard. After midnight, she suddenly became pregnant and delivered within minutes."

"The baby delivered was identical to the infant she had buried in the backyard. She took care of the baby and the next morning when her husband went to work, she went out back and dug up the grave and didn't find a body. And until a few years ago, the constant cycle of death and rebirth continued."

Kyle opened his mouth to ask a question, then closed it again. Kenny's story, while fantastical, made enough sense to keep him from asking too many questions. The look in Kenny's eyes made him seem distant, but he knew if he asked questions, his friend would answer. He prodded, "What happened a few years ago?"

"Caught that did you?" A new sharpness entered Kenny's gaze. "I convinced Henrietta Biggle to help me contact Cthulhu. I managed to come up with a solution that appeased his sick sense of humor that left my mom out of the middle of it." A wry chuckle escaped him. "I'm pretty sure he'd get a good laugh at the position I'm in."

Confused at what Kenny meant by that, he started to ask, but he knew that if he just waited, Kenny would tell him when he was ready. He took a deep breath and processed what Kenny told him already. Thinking it through, he asked, "What happens now?"

Silence reigned for a moment. When Kyle thought Kenny might not answer, the blond softly spoke. "If I die, I start to heal, but I don't come back until I'm left alone for a few minutes. The first few times were disorienting as hell, but I've gotten used to it."

Kyle pulled off his ball cap and shook his hair out. He looked over at Kenny and realized his hair had already started to grow long. Before he could think about it, he asked, "Does dying affect your hair growth?"

Caught off guard by the question, Kenny laughed and ran a hand through his hair to check the length. "It might. I'm always hungry when I first wake up after, but I don't need to get hair cuts as often as you do."

A curl danced across his vision, causing Kyle to pull his ball cap back on. "You're lucky." Glad to see his friend was starting to feel better, he asked, "Who knows beyond Cartman and me?"

"Just my parents, but I'm pretty sure my dad's in denial about it." He pulled up a blade of grass and played with it. "Kevin and Karen might remember too, but I've never died in front of them…"

"So relatives-with the exception of Cartman and I-would remember." Kyle was thoughtful for a moment. "I guess that makes sense if you allow that that as your two closest friends we're additions to your family…"

"Hate to burst your bubble, but Cartman really is family," Kenny said with a smile, admiring how Kyle's brain worked. "Mom was a Tenorman before she and Dad married." He turned to the other boy and threw the grass at him. "Your friend idea had merit though. You're the first person to watch me die recently."

For some reason, Kenny latching onto his idea made Kyle bristle. Maybe Kenny was glad to have a reasonable answer. But that didn't explain why he was so distant when Kyle first saw him that morning. It was as if he had received some grand revelation. Which it was fine if he did, but it was pissing Kyle off. He could feel the color rising in his cheeks so he kept his gaze away as he choked out, "Glad I could give you some ideas."

Kenny slung an arm around Kyle's shoulder to comfort him. "Don't be like that. I'm glad that I have someone other than Cartman to talk about this shit with." He leaned his head into Kyle's as he said, "You've been a good friend to me these last few weeks; a better friend than I deserve."

Not a hugger by nature, Kyle nonetheless found himself leaning into Kenny's embrace. His anger had cooled a little, but was still threatening to take over. His feelings were just such a tangled mess right now that anger seemed the easiest one to identify. He pulled out of the embrace and said, "I don't feel like a good friend right now. I kinda want to punch you in the face for scaring me like that."

A laugh escaped Kenny as he leaned away. "I honestly thought you wouldn't remember. After dying so many times in front of an audience, I've forgotten what it's like for someone else." He lay back and stared at the sky, thoughts turning inward again. A sigh escaped him, then he turned his head toward Kyle and caught the other's gaze. "What would you do in my shoes?"

"Seriously?" Kyle drew his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees as he thought about it. "I think I would have gone insane a long time ago. Not a lot of people can claim the mental fortitude it takes to survive something like that and not turn out absolutely batshit insane."

A grin broke out on Kenny's face at Kyle's complement. "When you put it that way, I'm glad I possess the 'mental fortitude' to survive." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and said, "There's something to be said about my physical fortitude as well."

"Fucking pervert," Kyle said with a chuckle. "I pay you a nice compliment about your brain and you turn it into something about your dick."

Kenny stood up and stared into Kyle's eyes, a devilish grin on his face. "One of my better qualities," he said as he snatched Kyle's hat off his head and made a run for it.